UN panel says Yazidi genocide 'ongoing,' appeals for help

Yazidi refugees from Iraq wear headbands written with 'Shingal' (the Kurdish name for the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar) at a march commemorating the attack on religious and ethnic minorities by the Islamic State group in northern Iraq in 2014, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016, in Berlin Germany. (Wolfram Kastl/dpa via AP)
(The Associated Press)

A participant of a rememberance march of Yazidis for the attack on the religious and ethical minorities in North Iraq by the Islamic State in 2014 holds a poster in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016. (Wolfram Kastl/dpa via AP)
(The Associated Press)

BERLIN – A U.N. commission investigating human rights abuses in Syria says the Islamic State group is still committing genocide and other crimes against the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq.

Its statement on Wednesday — the second anniversary of the initial IS attack on the Sinjar area in Iraq — urged action to prevent further death and suffering.

The commission of inquiry says IS crimes "against the Yazidis, including the crime of genocide, are ongoing."

The panel says more than 3,200 women and children from the minority continue to be held by IS, and are "subjected to almost-unimaginable violence," including sexual enslavement of girls while young Yazidi boys are forced to fight for IS.

It calls for a refocus on the "rescue, protection of, and care for the Yazidi community."